Students Heated Over Clothing Crackdown At Staten Island High School
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It may be fashion week in the city, but students at one Staten Island school aren't talking about the latest styles on the runway.
Instead they are angry about a crackdown on what they can and cannot wear to class.
Days into the new school year, controversy is brewing at Tottenville High School on Staten Island. As CBS 2's Don Champion reported, the fight is over clothing.
"You have to worry more about what you wear than your actual education. I don't get it," junior, Samantha Hoover said.
Hoover was among the hundred or so students who were told that their shorts were too short, and told to change their clothes Friday, as the school cracked down on the dress code.
The crackdown came as a new interim principal took over the school. In some cases on Friday, students said that they were held in the gym until their parents brought new clothes for them to wear.
Some students even took to twitter to mock the crackdown.
"Kids should be allowed to wear what they wear, but they should be responsible about what they wear too," senior Michael Morris said.
The dress code is clearly spelled out on the school's website and shows that students can't wear things like tank tops and hoodies.
The school released a statement regarding the crackdown.
"Students have the right to determine their own dress except where such dress creates a distraction, is dangerous, or interferes with the learning and teaching process," the statement said.
Some Tottenville students said that they have opted to wear less clothing because of a lack of air conditioning in many rooms.
"The school is very hot. If there was air conditioning I wouldn't mind it, I wouldn't mind it at all," one student said.
Outside it was hard to find a parent who disagreed with the crackdown.
"I think it's good because it's too distracting, because if teenagers start dressing that way, you know how it is with teenagers these days," Serra Villo said.
"He's asking for the same things and the only thing he's doing is he's finally enforcing it and good for him," Diane Cogliano said.
CBS 2 tried talking to the new principal, he said that he would be willing to discuss the crackdown with parents at a meet and greet on Monday night.
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